The Twilight Zone - In Praise of Pip

I must admit that while “In Praise of Pip” is often quite well accepted by certain critics and Twilight Zone fans (and it has seen a resurgence in Syfy TZ marathons as of the last few years) I’m not all that wild and crazy about it, admittedly. I think Klugman, though, is quite good, so it remains watchable basically thanks to him as far as my interest lies. As I work through the show for the blog, this is one of those from the fifth season I wanted to go ahead and knock out a review for. It does serve as background noise often when I have my television tuned to commercials-driven Syfy marathons, as Pip sees renewed interest by those who put those marathons together.

Klugman is a boozing bookie, guilt-ridden and bleak, worried sick about his son, who is currently clinging to life after suffering a bad wound in South Vietnam. Vietnam, while on minds, wasn't quite as topical as of yet in television storytelling, so its inclusion in The Twilight Zone gave the plot for Pip extra gravitas. Klugman’s Max Phillips has become fed up with running down human debts for boss, Moran (S. John Launer). Moran is shown counting up the cash in some less-than-desirable apartment near an amusement park. It is the worse and best of worlds to Max, reminders of a life equally miserable and delightful. Miserable in that Max has spent his past existence “urging” those who owe Moran money to pay up while delighted in the times (when he was sober) he could take his little boy to the amusement park for the rides and cotton candy (played by Lost in Space’s Billy Mumy).

While seen in his alcohol-reeking apartment by a concerned Mrs. Feeney (Connie Gilchrist), tending to his bed and towels, clearly pitying and caring about him, Max is at the end of his rope working for Moran. We have come in on Max’s life at the very bottom where he tried to ease his suffering through the booze. His son, barely in his twenties, is dying, having made it through surgery. Max soon learns this, reacting quite emotionally to it all by helping out a recent mark (some young man betting on horses, played by Russell Horton) by stabbing Moran’s gunman (Kreg Martin) and subduing Moran. However, during the scuffle, the gunman shoots Max, wounding him in the process. Returning to the amusement park, where his best times were, Max envisions Pip as a boy, taking him on rides and getting him cotton candy like the old days. But as the adult Pip gradually worsens, Max is losing the boy vision, offering God an exchange if he will spare his son…

Once again The Twilight Zone focuses on the theme of “second chances”, allowing someone who had spent a majority of his life failing as a human being (although Klugman, to his credit, imbues the character with a likable quality despite his profession and never quite being the “model citizen” he could have been had he just applied himself) to sacrifice for someone seemingly more deserved of a future than he is. Because he has finally exercised his reject-card and turned against Moran, a price is paid for doing so, as Max is also (much like his son, across the globe, miles away) wounded. While Max could very well survive if he would go to the hospital, he’d prefer to spend some time with his son, even as it (and his time at an amusement park that is actually “gone quiet”) is all imagined. The Twilight Zone allows for a father to get one more trip to the amusement park with his son and even be a sacrificial lamb if God will allow an exchange of life.

The trip through an amusement park with his son is very sentimental and just an extended nostalgia illusion, providing a father one final fantasy before he dies. He’s granted one final joy before life’s journey comes to an end. Giving up his life for the son is the TZ’s way of letting Max make up for a history of mistakes and inability to abandon this objectionable career working for a boss who preys on the weak. Max is expected by Moran to use whatever means necessary to collect the debts owed him. The booze could only ease that sort of guilt somewhat. I could see why Pip might be of substantial worth to certain viewers, particularly because of Klugman’s sincere performance with all its ache and regret. He gives it his all. Klugman was a hero of mine during my teenage years thanks to reruns of Quincy, and his work on The Twilight Zone also always weighed heavily on my respect and admiration for his craft. I have seen a few episodes of The Odd Couple but certainly it was Quincy that won me over. But in regards to his work on The Twilight Zone, I consider his collection of performances great examples of his brevity as an actor. There is soberness in characters Klugman portrayed on this show, even when on a space ship repeating a series of decisions over and over or combating a legendry pool player returning from the afterlife to develop the rep as being the best. Here Klugman is given a prize part as an agonizing father dealing with the prospects that his son is going to die in Vietnam and his own rotgut tumult due in majority to a life spent wasted. I think this episode might have his best work on the show, although I completely understand why some would consider A Game of Pool as the performance he’s most remembered for. Because of Klugman, “In Praise of Pip” isn’t as difficult to go down but it has some schmaltz to it that I cringe a bit at. I don’t disregard the episode but it certainly doesn’t offer much subtlety. Max taking Pip around the amusement park one more time certainly is on-the-sleeve sentimentality at its most hammer-to-the-nail. I can see why it will undoubtedly work its spell for those fathers and sons who would love and cherish getting that one more chance to go to the amusement park, though.

The episode even includes the twenty-year-old returning soldier at the amusement park firing off the toy rifle, hoping to nab a stuffed animal in memory of his buddy, POP. Mumy’s use of POP might just become a bit irksome. It is the final sledgehammer of sentimentality for Serling’s screenplay when the returning soldier thinks back to POP and advice regarding gum.

I like Klugman’s work opposite Gilchrist, especially when he cuffs her face affectionately, going on and on about how much he loves her and appreciates her. She has mothered him during his worst years, looking at him with deep sadness, particularly commenting with eyes when noticing the bottle. Max knows all too well he’s a sod and a failure but she still dotes on him compassionately. The Twilight Zone gives Max the opportunity to make right after many years of wrong.